After posting an 0-3 record at the 10th Annual Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals on Saturday, the Binghamton University men’s wrestling team is still in search of its first win. But the seemingly disappointing start, coming on the heels of a record-setting season, can at least partially be attributed to a rigorous early schedule.
The Bearcats opened the weekend with a close meet against Army that came down to a tiebreaker finish and ended in a 16-15 Binghamton loss. BU later dropped its remaining meets to undefeated Rutgers University and fifth-ranked University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, losing 30-9 and 39-10, respectively.
“We have one of, if not the toughest strengths of schedule in the country,” Binghamton head coach Matt Dernlan said. “So far it has been a great learning experience and I see us really building our identity. You can either back down from the challenge or embrace it. This is all part of the plan to prepare our guys for March.”
Against Army, each team won five matches, all of which were by decision. The score ended in a 15-15 tie, leaving the final decision up to the NCAA tiebreaker system for dual meets. With neither team receiving a penalty and with no pins, technical falls or major decisions, the decision was based on the fifth criteria of the tiebreak system: the total points added up by each individual match. Army held a 37-36 advantage.
“Going forward, we can’t put ourselves in that position,” Dernlan said. “We need to just win.”
With a shot at the first win of an important season having slipped through their fingers, the Bearcats had the challenge of forgetting the opening result and responding against two top-tier teams.
With Rutgers coming off a blowout win against Columbia University, Binghamton was fighting serious momentum in its second match of the day.
Rutgers won all but two matches against BU, although almost every match was close and the Bearcats saw only one wrestler defeated by fall.
The final match of the day came against fifth-ranked Illinois, where again, the Bearcats won only two matches for a final score of 39-10. Illinois has dominated each of its opponents this year and looks to make a serious push at the national championship after finishing seventh in the NCAA tournament last year.
The most impressive performances from Binghamton on Saturday came from redshirt seniors Donnie Vinson and Nate Schiedel, both of whom remain undefeated on the season.
Currently ranked fourth in the 149-pound class according to InterMat Wrestling and No. 1 by Amateur Wrestling News, Vinson finished the day with two major decisions and a 1-0 victory against 20th-ranked Army senior Daniel Young.
“Donnie is no longer a secret,” Dernlan said. “Everybody knows who he is and what he is capable of. It is a new reality, but he is finally embracing the reality that he is one of the best guys in the country.”
Concluding the day with a pin, while also adding a technical fall and decision to his undefeated season, seventh-ranked Scheidel had the most dominating performance of the day for the Bearcats.
“I’m having a tough time finding an area that needs to be addressed with Scheidel’s performance,” Dernlan said. “He is wrestling exactly where he needs to be.”
Other wins for the Bearcats came from senior Derek Steeley and sophomores Joe Bonaldi and Tyler Deuel, all of whom won by decision against Army.
The Bearcats are scheduled to face another tough test with a visit to University of Oklahoma this Sunday for a dual meet against the 10th-ranked Sooners. Oklahoma has five top-20 ranked wrestlers, according to InterMat. An epic rubber match between Vinson and Oklahoma redshirt junior Nick Lester is set to highlight the day. Lester beat Vinson in the first round of the NCAA tournament last March before Vinson defeated him later on in the tournament en route to finishing third and becoming an All-American.
The meet is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday at the Howard McCasland Field House.